Rowing apparatus



- (No Model.)

B. DOSOHER.

ROWING APPARATUS.

No. 314,001. Patented Mar.

I I i -1 WITNESSES: r IN'VENTOR:

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ATTSRNEYS oar and of the rowing apparatus, all as here- 'which similar letters of reference indicate cor- UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

BEREND DOSCHER, OF CHARLESTON, SOUTII CAR OLIN A.

ROWING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 314.001, dated March 17, 1885;

Application filed October 17, 1P8-L (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known thatl, BEREND DOSCHER, of Charleston, in the county of Charleston and State of South Carolina, have invented a new and Improved Rowing Apparatus. of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description. l

The principal object of my invention .is to provide a rowing apparatus, whereby a boat may be propelled by fore and aft oars acting at opposite sides of the boat and while the rowers look forward.

The invention consists in a tus constructed with fore and aft oars swinging at opposite sides of the boat, and connected at points above and below their centers bya tie-bar at each side, and in oarsso arranged, made with folding bladewvings, and also with rings or links adapted to hold the blades closed.

Theinvention includes, also, particular constructions and combinations of parts of the rowing apparainafter fully described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in

responding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a perspective view of a boat with my rowing apparatus applied and as in use. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the boat,

showing in full lines how the oars are laid up for the night, or when the boat is out of use, and showing in dotted lines the adjustment of the oars when the rowers face the stern of the boat. Fig. 3 is a back view of the blade end of the oar. Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional plan views of the oar, illustrating, respectively, the opened and closed positions of one of the bladewings of the car. Fig. 6 is a front view of the blade end of the oar. Fig. 7 shows in rear perspective "iew the oar-shaft and wing-blades with one of the wings removed from the shaft. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of the 'of wing E.

upper end of one of the oar-shafts and its detaehable handle. Fig. 9 is a plan view there of; and Fig. 10 is a perspectiveview of the I gunwale-plate, in which the oars are pivoted. I The letterAindicates a boat or vessel adapted to be propelled by the oars B, which have fixed to their shafts b the pins b, which enter holes or sockets c of plates 0, which are secured by screws or nails passed through holes o in them to the gunwale of the boat, and so that the oars may swing fore and aft on the pins 1) as centers of oscillation. I make the blade of the oar in two wing-sections, D E. which have elongated eyes d 0, respectively, of about half the length of each blade, and which are passed upon the oar-shaft b. The wings are held on the shafts by a collar, F, at the lower end of the shaft, and a pin, G, may be set in the shaft above the blade to prevent sliding of it along the shaft. The oarshaft has fixed to it a stud, H, which has two opposite faces, h it, against which the shoulders d e, formed on the adjacent ends of the eyes d e of the wings D E, act when the wings are opened by being drawn or pulled one way through the water; and the side extensions, (1 e, of the wings,which lie nearlyin the same facial plane with their main parts, lap upon the faces of the opposite wings to prevent them from opening farther than about in line transverse] y of the open wings with each other, and when the oar is moving the other way or is on the return-stroke, thewings will swing around on the oar-shaft 1) until they stop against the lug H. In other words, as the wings D E open on the propelling stroke, the shoulder d of wing D will stop against the side h of lug H, and the shoulder a of wingE will stop against the side h of lug II, and the side extension, e", of wing E will stop against the outer face of wing D, and the side extension, cl", of wing D will stop against the outer face (See Figs. 3 and 6.)

It will be seen that the extensions (1 c form together an overlapping brace the full length of the oar-blade,allowing theblade to be made very light and cheap and still have suiiicient resistance on the pulling stroke of the oar. The lug H thus serves to prevent folding of the outer edges of the blade-wings closely to each other, so that at the beginning of the propellingstroke of the oar they will open certainly and promptly for the best effect on the water, and the lug H serves also as a stop to prevent swinging of the open or closed wings bodily on or around the oar-shaft. I make the oar-handles I with an elongated ring or forrule, z, having a feather, i, which enters aslot in the end b of the oar-shaft, and to the ferrule is fixed a rod, j, on which the hand-grasp bar or roller J is placed. The handles fit on the oarshafts, so as to extend the hand-grasps inboard and thwart-ships, so that they may conveniently begrasped to work opposite pairs of oars, as represented in Fig. 1. The handles may easily be removed from the oar-shafts to prevent use of the boat by unauthorized persons.

As seen in dotted lines in Fig. 2, the oars may separately be worked or be worked in pairs. by persons 'facing the stern of the boat in the ordinary position; but by my invention I provide for rowing the boatforward by one or more persons facing the boats bows or looking forward and by a pulling-stroke. 1 accomplish this by connecting the two oars at the same side of the boat, and above and belowtheir respective pivots b b by a rod, K. The connection may be made in any manner allowing free swing of. the fore and aft oars one by the other-as, for instance, by bent ends of the rod K entering holes It made in the car shafts.

The drawings represent the rods K K con- 'necting with the bow oars at each side of the boat at points above their pivots b, and with the stern oars at points below their pivots b, so that when the stern-oar handles are pulled .in the direction of arrow a, Fig. 1, the blade wings of said oars will loo-moved forward, and will close on the boat, and when the bow oars are pulled their blade-wings will be closed on their lugs H, as they move forward, and the bladewings of the stern oars will be opened to propel the vessel thereby. In other words, a pull on the I bow oars gives' the propelling-stroke to the stern oars, and a pull on the stern oars gives the propelling-stroke to the bow ours. The elfect i will he the same if the rods K connect with the bow oars below their pivots b, and with 1 the stern oars above their pivots b, or reversely to the connection shown.

will be lifted from the hooks fl and lowered upon the upper parts of the closed bladewings to hold them closed, or it may be upon i lower hooks, l, fixed on the oar-shatts, and

beneath the hooks or lips Z on the upper ends of the wings,.which will prevent opening of the wings of said how oars, as the wings are swung astern by a forward push of the oarhandles, so that .on the pushingstroke of the I bow oars in direction of the arrow a'in Fig.

1, the wings of both the bow and stern oars'will remain closed for easy recovery of the rower,

' and on the pulling-stroke of the bow cars the wings D E of the stern oars wilLact to propel the boat, as above explained. Should it be desiredto propel the boat by the stern oars alone,

the lugs H, and the bow oars will also be swung to carry their blade-wings back ward and open them for propelling effect on p the' rings or links M thereof will be lowered upon their blades to hold them closed on the forward or pushing stroke of their handles, as will readily be understood. When both how and stern cars are used to propel the boat, a forward pushon the handles of either the bow or stern oars will aid the pull on the other pair of oars; but rowing by pulling the oars only is preferred, as it is more easily and comfortably done. Should it be desired to turn .the boat around quickly,both rings or links L M at one side of the boat will, be lowered to hold the blade-wings of the oars on that side closed while the oars on the opposite side are in action.

To hold the oars up at the sides of the boat, as when the boat is out of use, the bent opposite ends ot a bar, 0, may be inserted in the holes k k nearest'the blades of the bow and. stern oars at the same side of the boat when their handle ends are swung down toward each other at or near the boats gunwale, as shown in Fig. 2, ma short-er rod may have its ends entered into the holes is k of theoars nearest their handles; or the ends of the same bar K used in connecting the oars when rowing may be inserted in holes made in the oarshafts for this purpose.

Among the advantages of my invention may be named the following: The rowers look forward and can watch the waves better and can steer by the cars more directly to the desired place. The cars are always ready to,

work and require little or no practice to use them, and they make no noisy splashing of the water and are safer to use and are never carried in the boat, which may be propelled at high speed and turned quickly, and the cars being held to the boat, it may be righted more easily if upset, and the cars give better chance of climbing into the boat, and my oar system is especially serviceable in driving the boat through sea brush or weeds or grass in hunting water-fowls.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A rowing apparatus comprising swinging fore and aft oars on opposite sides of a boat, and a rod connecting each pair of fore and att oars above and below their pivotal iuts, whereby when power is applied to either the fore or aft oars they will be moved simultaneously in opposite directions.

2. A rowing apparatus comprising swinging fore and ail: oars on opposite sides of a boat, and the cars at each side of the boat being connected together at points above and below their respective pivots by a tie rod or bar, and said oars having blade-wings which open and close on their propelling and return bar, and said oars having blade-wings which open and close, and also having rings or links supported on their shafts and adapted to lo lowered on the wings to hold them closed, substantially as herein set forth.

4. The combination, with the fore and aft oars on the same side of a'boat, which are connected at points above and below their respective pivots by a tie-rod, K, and have folding blade-wings D E, substantially asspecified, of the rings or links L M, adapted to be supported above the blade-wings on the hooks Z m of the fore and aft oars, respectively, and the opposite hooks, Z, on the oar-shafts and P on the oar-blades, adapting the rings or links below their respective pivots by a tie'rod or I L M to lock the blade-wings closed or out of action, substantially as herein set forth;

5. An oar made with blade-wings D E, fitting loosly by elongated eyes around the 20 lower rounded end of the oar-shaft, which has a stud, H, against which the wings fold or close, and said wings having side extensions, d e which overlap the backs of the opposite wings for their whole length when the wings '2 5 open for the propelling-stroke, substantially as herein set forth.

BEREND DOSOHER. Witnesses:

JOHN BART, E. F. BENEDIKT. 

